Does FWD account for evil?

• Responses to moral evil - accounts for evil

  - God is benevolent (good gifts / Swinburne)

  - God is benevolent (free will led to our disobedience led to God sending Jesus. Augustine)

  - God is an omnipotent creator (2 stage creation)

  - God is benevolent (epistemic distance/Hick)

  - Moral evil is acknowledged and understood (free will is of great value)

  - Logically impossible for God to have created beings who are morally perfect and have free will (Swinburne)
• Responses to moral evil - does not account for evil

  - JL Mackie argues that an omnipotent God could resolve the problem of morally perfect people and free will

  - We are not truly free. Free will is an illusion
• Responses to natural evil - accounts for evil

  - Death places a cap on our suffering

  - Natural evil is a consequence of living in a morally free world

  - God created the world imperfect (Hick and Swinburne)

  - Develop our virtues
• Responses to natural evil - does not account for evil

  - Why should someone benefit from an individuals suffering and pain?
• Response to the logical problem of evil - accounts for evil

  - An omnipotent and benevolent God is justified in continuing to permit evil in creation in order to allow free will

  - An omnipotent God cannot receive a logical contradiction
• Response to the logical problem of evil - does not account for evil

  We are still left with a God who allows evil and suffering which seems to be wrong
• Response to the evidential problem of evil - accounts for evil


  - The benefits of free will (a loving relationship with God) justifies evil

  - The value of free will is enormous
• Response to the evidential problem of evil - does not account for evil


  - Does not address Dostoevsky's stories of evidential problem are not resolved